By Neto Baptiste
Schyan Jeffers, coach of the reigning Premier Division champions All Saints United, is calling for a review of the format being used at the top tier of local football.
Currently, the Premier Division is played in two formats with the 14 teams first playing each other once in a round-robin format. The teams are then divided into two groups of seven with each team playing the other teams in the group once. Points collected during the two formats are then tallied and a winner announced.
Jeffers believes the current format provides an unlevel playing field.
“I think that, in some ways, it becomes bias because let’s say you’re leading [at the end of the round-robin format] then definitely, you would get more of the second tier [teams in the lower half of the table] to play [in the group stage]. If you finish second in the first round [round-robin format] then you would get more of the first tier teams [teams in the top half of the standings] to play so we would be in a harder zone,” he said.
United currently heads the standings with 40 points, one ahead of Grenades who have 39. The teams are however heading separate groups after ending the round-robin format in first and second places. Grenades was seeded in Group 1 while United was seeded in Group 2.
Jeffers, a former national player, said his team has a much tougher road to championship honours.
“In our group [Group 2], we have Potters and Five Islands but how many points can they pick up in our group versus the other group with John Hughes. John Hughes can pick up a lot more points because there are a lot of weaker teams in that zone, so the teams that are fighting for relegation can pick up more points than the teams in our groups [hoping to stave off relegation]. So the teams fighting to avoid relegation in our group, they have it much harder. Find a better format, find a better format to make everybody happy,” he said.
Group 1: Grenades FC, Pigotts Bullets FC, FC Aston Villa, John Hughes, Green City, Willikies, Hoppers.
Group 2: All Saints United, Old Road, Garden Stars, Potters Tigers, Attacking Saints, Five Islands, Parham.
The Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) introduced the new format coming out of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2022. The body had also increased the number of teams in the Premier Division from 10 to 16.
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